Being Restored – Grapevine Article by Theresa C.

Even when faced with life’s most difficult challenges, she was able to stay sober

Thank God I was born into an alcoholic family. I say this because one man’s disease helped my grandmother, mother, brother, sister, and I to hop into the Alanon/Alateen wagon together. Years later, several of us also took that painful plunge into AA. Today, I live in a little town with family members who have between a few months to over 40 years of recovery. This is a gift.

So, with this safety net of program firmly in place, I celebrated a sober life—seldom questioning the power of God’s grace. I grew to know God could restore me, or anyone, to sanity. “Never” have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed this path! I clung to this faith through 25 years.

And at this quarter century mark, my husband left and I shattered. Again, though, I knew a Higher Power could handle this drama, one day at a time. However, fate was not finished snaking its way through my life. Weeks later, my precious and only daughter drowned. After the funeral, my sister, standing in my living room, received a call that her son had taken his own life. And so this once strong and spiritual family collapsed into deep grief. And, I was not so sure how big this God could really be.

Unable to function, I quit my job. I spent each day with my family and other AA members, praying, meditating, reading, going to meetings and wondering if I could even stay sober. A very powerful sponsor would visit late at night, when the beast had me by the claws and I could not choke out another sober breath. But, I did not break. I did not die. I did not drink. Instead, God sent many AAs to share their strength and hope around their experiences with losing a beloved. And, I was able to reach other parents who lost children after my daughter passed.

And that’s how we do this program of life. We accept it—life on life’s terms. We share it—when anyone reaches out for the hand of AA. We just do the deal and we grow. We heal. And when the going gets rough (as it surely will) we do not need to know all the answers … or even how to stay sober.

Because the truth is: we are never alone and there is always someone there to remind us how to take the next step. And here is a promise: if we embed our souls, hearts, and lives into the center of Alcoholics Anonymous we can feel the expansiveness of our own Higher Power. We no longer subsist on concepts of faith, but are graced with spiritual experiences as we are restored to sanity … again and again.

Now I am entering into the second quarter-century of sobriety and learning: there is no end to the infinite power of the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, for myself, my homegroup, and my family.